Holliday becomes Lawrence's career leader in RBI as Vikings split doubleheader with Ripon

APPLETON - Lawrence University baseball standout Matthew Holliday broke the school's career runs batted in record to deliver a win for the Vikings in the opener Thursday, and Ripon College rallied in the 10th inning to take the nightcap and salvage a Midwest Conference split at Whiting Field.

Lawrence won the first game 7-6 in 11 innings, and Ripon held on for a 4-3 victory in 10 innings in the second game.

Holliday, who entered the doubleheader one RBI shy of Andrew Wong's career record of 100, tied the mark with a run-scoring double in the third. He broke the record by driving in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th.

After Ripon scored an unearned run in the top of the 11th to take a 6-5 lead, the Vikings started a one-out rally with Anthony Ortiz's double in the bottom half of the inning. Mike Brady followed with a run-scoring single to tie the game at 6-6. After a walk and a strikeout put runners at first and second, Holliday singled down the left field line to score Brady with the game-winning run.

Holliday, who also holds Lawrence's career hits and doubles records, went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Reno Zemrak and Brady both finished 2-for-5 for the Vikings (8-11, 1-1 MWC), and Travis Weber was 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI.

Holliday got the final out in the top of the 11th to pick up the victory. David Knapp pitched the bottom of the 11th and took the loss.

Weber had a run-scoring single, and Holliday picked up an RBI double to give Lawrence a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third. The Vikings added two runs in the fifth without a hit as Ripon made two errors to give Lawrence a 5-2 edge. Ripon committed eight errors in the opener.

Ripon (4-12, 1-1) got two runs in the seventh and added another in the eighth to tie the game at 5-5 and force extra innings.

In the nightcap, a walk and hit batsman to start the top of the 10th was decisive as Michael Barnes delivered a two-run double to give Ripon a 4-2 lead. Lawrence rallied in the bottom of the inning as Rudy Mueller-Schrader got things started with an infield single. Patrick McDonnell belted a double two batters later to score Mueller-Schrader and cut the lead to 4-3. Brian Brown then got a flyout to end the game and pick up the win.

Lawrence trailed 2-0 when Weber hit a double to score Nolan Spencer in the fifth to cut the margin in half. McDonnell blasted a solo homer in the sixth to tie it at 2-2.

McDonnell went 3-for-5, drove in a pair of runs and scored a run, and Spencer finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Lawrence's Brad Olson came on in relief in the ninth and took the loss. Kyle Duex made the start for the Vikings and was outstanding in 8.2 innings. He allowed eight hits and one earned run, struck out three and walked one.